The main aim of the article is to describe, analyze and compare main prosodic categories that are realized in a unique context, namely in political media discourse. The article looks into the principles of classification of the prosodic categories as well as at realizational differences of three main prosodic categories: syllable, foot and intonation phrase. These categories are distinguished unanimously by the majority of the researchers and are described in the article form their structural and cognitive perspectives. The realizational differences of these categories derive from pragmatic and linguacultural features of English media communication. In the article media communication is represented with political media discourse which is understood as a new contextual model of media communication and is characterized by high degree of immediacy and interactivity. Certain attention in the article is given to the results of the comparative research of the realizational differences of the prosodic categories done by the author. On the basis of the data resulted from the prosodic and content analysis the author concludes that the realizational differences of the prosodic categories are often due to pragmatics of the discourse and the type of discourse itself.

The aim of this paper is to analyze how the concept of hatred is represented in American political discourse. The problem of intensified hate speech requires thorough linguistic investigation as political discourse is becoming more openly conflictual. The empirical material of this study comprises public speeches by American politicians, politically themed analytical articles in the press, posts and statements of politicians in social networks. The main method is that of functional-linguistic analysis of discourse. The author analyzes confrontational communicative tactics, e.g. discrediting, scorn, insult, accusation, mockery, etc. The objects (or victims) of such rhetoric are political opponents of the subject of speech, who may have different points of view, religious beliefs, cultural backgrounds and social status. Hate speech, which is an extreme form of how the concept of hatred can be verbalized, may be directed against confessional and ethnical groups. The paper puts special focus on communicative goals and intentions of the discourse participants who resort to hate speech. Usually it is the desire of the subject of speech to publicly demonstrate disrespect, mock, belittle the authority of opponents and favorably represent oneself in the eyes of the audience. The rhetoric of hatred comprises such typical means as negative and offensive epithets and metaphors; hyperbolic, comparative, rhetorical and lexical constructions with the pragmatical meaning of irony. In situations, when the subjects of speech emphasize the difference between them and their opponents (national, religious, social etc.), the functional fields of the concept of hatred and the “in-group/out-group” concept may overlap. In these cases, the communicative goal of the speaker is to alienate political opponents and emphasize their dissidence in a negative way.

There are a great number of transnational corporations operating all over the world. All of them are facing the issue of national culture, and cross-cultural difference is of vital importance. Choosing appropriate marketing strategy assures success or failure on the international market. The concept of culture is very dynamic and requires constant observation. The tasks marketing managers started to deal with became more complex, requiring cultural sensitivity and ability to overcome cross-cultural differences.
The research, presented in this paper, attempts to analyze whether national culture affects marketing strategy of international companies. The framework of cultural dimensions developed by Hofstede was taken as a basis for the analysis of Russian national culture. The author resorts to the quantitative approach based on the conducted survey and analyzes data collected in the Russian Federation. At first cultural values were used to identify Russia. Cultural values were measured at the individual level and compared to the previous findings on Russian culture. Analysis of differences in cultural values on the individual level among Russian population has shown that there is some kind of difference between previous findings related to Russia and findings obtained during the research. The level of adaptation was evaluated from the consumers’ point of view. Questionnaire was designed based on the analyzed literature, and obtained data was statistically analyzed with SPSS. Linear regression and correlation analysis were used to prove the hypotheses of the research work. Though Russian national culture was depicted as unique with a great number of peculiarities, in the industries, analyzed in this paper, the connection between marketing strategy adaptation and uncertainty avoidance, and marketing strategy adaptation and dimension of collectivism for fast moving consumer goods was proved statistically.
The second stage of the research included the analysis of the empirical evidence of the cultural adaptation of the advertisement of fast moving consumer goods for the Russian consumer. A number of samples were analyzed, and two cases are presented in the paper. The pragmatic approach was used for the analysis of the empirical data.
The results of the study add to the theoretical knowledge about the relationship between cultural dimensions in Russia and marketing strategies employed by transnational companies. They also contribute to the knowledge about Russian consumers’ behavior patterns. The framework can be potentially applied to other spheres of professional business in Russia.

The main goal of this article is to draw readers' attention to the dialectal vocabulary, which belongs to the thematic group of labour. Dialectal vocabulary is most often associated with historical facts, it reflects the traditional worldview of a person, his/her system of values. The article considers lexical units that were recorded on a territory rich in its historical and cultural past. This article is devoted to the analysis of dialectal vocabulary, reflecting labour activity and professional occupation of people living in the basin of the upper reaches of the Nepryadva River. Since ancient times, the population of this region was engaged in various activities and crafts. The thematic group “Labour activity” comprises a whole complex of subgroups that have repeatedly become the subject of consideration by linguists. In the framework of the article, the authors focus on the lexical empirical material that exists in the Tula group of dialects. They analyze a particular part of lexis that reflects important areas of human activity, such as field cultivation, gardening, horticulture, animal husbandry, poultry farming. As a result of the study, it is concluded that the dialectal vocabulary of the specified thematic group is a system, and the selected empirical material makes it possible to see the identity in the dialects of the studied settlements and certain differences. It should be emphasized that, despite the persistent tendency to leveling, dialectal lexical units related to the thematic group of labour continue to exist in modern dialects of the Russian language. The considered lexical units and samples of dialectal professional discourse require further scientific consideration.

The article makes the case that the skills of consecutive interpretation are the key ones among professionally relevant competencies of modern specialists involved in international relations. Focusing on the specificity and complexity of the interpretation process, the author considers the issue of cross-language asymmetry.
The author gives ground for making consecutive interpretation the object of analysis by emphasizing the fact that the related training modes are, on the one hand, cross-functional and multifaceted, and, on the other hand, universal. Their convenience and usefulness for both students and teachers are highlighted, since they help identify learning problems of special importance, was to fix them and elaborate new strategies for interpretation skills development.
The purpose of the paper is to reveal and analyze the most typical mistakes in interpretation as well as outline methods of their prevention. The author sums up a number of theoretical sources, that serve as the main methodological basis for the analysis of the phenomena in question, and reflects on her own teaching experience at MGIMO University.
The methods of analysis applied herein comprise elements of generalization and classification, contextual and semantic analysis, pragmafunctional analysis, empiric investigation through observation and experiment.
The presented analysis results in the overview and the rationale of the most common translation mistakes arising in the process of students’ mastering skills of bilingual consecutive interpretation, and the set of suggested corrective exercises. The paper highlights the value of propaedeutic work and the process of building up successful learners’ activities.

The purpose of the paper is to give an overview of phraseological means incorporating ethnic allusions in the framework of the Spanish world model as a whole and in professional activities in particular. The author proceeds from the premise that professional education of participants in international processes should attach critical importance to the awareness of the nation’s associative thinking, especially related to ethnic stereotypes, for ensuring successful interethnic relationships. The Spanish perception of their own, alongside others’, national character is exemplified by numerous ethnically coloured phraseological units. Special attention is paid to ethnically orientated idioms referring to various professional activities. The author also considers historically based motivation of ethnic allusions in the Spanish phraseology, semantic and evaluative features of the phraseological units in question.
The following conclusions are made:
– ethnically related allusions in the Spanish phraseological world model are distinguished by specific images and stereotypes which are determined by historical and cultural experience of native speakers;
– in terms of structural modes, phraseological units with ethnonyms follow the universal patterns of set phrases ranging from word combinations to complete sentences;
– evaluative connotations of such units do not always provide reliable testimony of the actual ethnic stereotypes; many ethnically coloured images in Spanish idioms look paradoxical rather than demonstrate the Spaniards’ true vision of a nation rooted in the objective background.

This paper is dedicated to challenges of transitioning the educational process to online learning. To present an objective analysis the authors have compared the experience of two Russian universities – MGIMO University and Samara National Research University in the field of foreign language teaching, in particular professional English. The focus of the paper is on difficulties faced by the faculty and the ways academics coped with them.
The authors highlight the specificity and peculiarities of such a complicated form of education as distance e-learning. Comparative analysis of online platforms, which are mostly used for the organization of e-learning, reveals their benefits and major drawbacks. Furthermore, the authors reflect upon how learning material is blended and assimilated in order to form an e-course. As one of acute pressing problems, the complexity of students’ knowledge assessment is described. The goal of the paper predetermined the necessity to carry out a survey to accumulate and summarize data on teachers’ and students’ individual experiences of the newly formed online educational environment. As the survey indicates, both professors and students consider elearning to be a real breakthrough. On the other hand, the authors conclude that currently it can be only an alternative to the more traditional forms of education, since it can’t be relevantenough to teaching various aspects of professional communication at universities.

On April 25, 2020, MGIMO University held the inter-institutional scientific and practical seminar (with international participation) “Digital Didactics: Technologies and Practices” organized by the Department of Pedagogy and Psychology. Educators and researchers from Russia, Belarus and Moldova met in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which sent students and professors online, to discuss the problems related to teaching and learning from home and share the immediate experience of the first month in quarantine conditions. MGIMO welcomed colleagues from Moscow Pedagogical State University, Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Moscow Polytechnic University, Academy of Labour and Social Relations, Esenin Ryazan State University, Pushkin State Russian Language Institute, Belarusian State University, Komrat State University (Moldova), Federal Research Centre Computer Science and Control of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The participants of the seminar discussed the place and role of online courses in university education, ways of presenting teaching material and teaching methods as well as pedagogical and psychological problems in online education.